A Neighborhood Atop a Cemetery
Tucson's built in the caldera of a volcano. It's ringed by mountain ranges, growth beginning in the middle of the hole and spreading out as far as the mountains allowed. The original presidio is in the center of downtown, the dead were buried further north, just east of Main Street. Then, civilization began to encroach. Development was moving in the direction of all those bodies, and the survivors were told to dig 'em up. Evergreen Cemetery was created further north and west, and plots would be available for the displaced remains. Some were moved. Some were not. Homeowners in the Dunbar and Spring neighborhoods are still digging up caskets and clothes and bones. Were the bodies buried with all their clothes victims of contagious disease? Was burial the safest method of disposal for things they'd touched? The answers are unknown, but the history is commemorated by signage in the roundabouts. I visit...